Domestic Relations
by Shangalangalang
Summary: Eren is an ambitious college freshman majoring in psychology. Rivaille is his hardass doctor-slash-roommate who refuses to take shit from brats like Eren but has to deal with it anyway. The two must find a way to cope with each other despite their clashing living styles. Even though there are quirks, maybe it's not so bad, after all. Modern domestic setting, M for later chapters
1. Prelude

"Shitty brat, wake the fuck up and explain yourself this instant."

With that, Eren's face had a very familiar encounter once more with a certain man's foot, indicating that the man was agitated and was not about to give Eren the sleep he needed so badly.

Eren groaned, used to the pain by now. Whether that was a good or bad thing, he didn't know nor did he care. He refused to budge from his very comfortable place in bed, prompting Rivaille to kick him in the face repeatedly. Eren was probably lucky Rivaille wasn't wearing any shoes, because even though it wasn't enough to break a facial feature, Rivaille's kicks were truly one of a kind, to say in the least.

"What?" Eren moaned, slowly becoming irritated himself. From what he could tell, no light was streaming in from the windows, which meant it was either extremely cloudy or it wasn't past 6 yet. He assumed the latter.

"Get the fuck out of bed, you little shit," Rivaille ordered with a chillingly dark tone in his voice. When he saw that that approach didn't work either, he resigned himself to his last resort: ripping away the covers off of Eren and simply dragging the boy out of bed.

"Alright, alright!" Eren sighed, giving up what little hope he had for that extra hour of sleep he was apparently never going to get. The disdain turned to slight anger as he glared up at his roommate, daring him to justify the abrupt awakening. Rivaille was already dressed and had his doctor's coat in his arm, which meant he was probably called to an emergency shift in the hospital, which most likely meant he was in a shittier mood than usual.

"The fridge," Rivaille stated simply, ignoring the look of death the younger boy was sending him as he pointed to said furniture object.

"Huh?"

"The _fridge_," Rivaille hissed, silently gesturing toward the kitchen, signaling the younger male to check out exactly what was wrong.

"What about the goddamned fridge?" Eren practically yelled, throwing his hands in the air, exasperated with the antics of his roommate.

"Look inside it." Rivaille replied, voice eerily even as he pinched the bridge of his nose. As Eren clambered up to wander off into the kitchen, Rivaille looked after him with a scornful look on his face.

"Okay, what's the big deal?" Eren asked, sticking his head in the refrigerator. The cool air felt good against his abused face.

"What's in it?" Rivaille grumbled, emerging from the bedroom.

"Nothing!" Eren replied, annoyed.

"Exactly! I told you to buy some groceries on your way home yesterday!"

"Must have slipped my mind! I'm only human."

"I texted you after your class ended, it should have been fresh in your mind."

"I'm sorry I'm such an idiot then!"

"Would you care to explain to me why I'm playing the role of the housewife here? All you do is pay half the rent, why do I always have to keep the apartment in shape? You may have homework and tests but I have peoples' lives to deal with."

"No one's asking you to clean or anything, you're just a clean freak with OCD who-"

"I dare you to say that again."

"What? The part where I correct you or the part where I call you a bad name because God forbid anyone insults your name, oh great Mr. Rivaille!"

"Why are you being so difficult? Is a simple task as getting groceries too much for you to handle?"

"I wouldn't be so difficult if you hadn't woken me up at 6 in the fucking morning!"

"You know what? Never mind, I'm out. I've got enough dying patients to deal with without having to listen to the shit a college freshman throws at me."

Rivaille stormed off, leaving a fuming Eren to knock over a cup or two in his fury. Both of which he would pick up later out of fear of Rivaille's wrath.

Eren never understood Rivaille's affinity, or rather, obsession, with keeping things in tip-top shape. Groceries weren't even that big of a deal, it wasn't like they had no food in the house and Eren could always make an emergency run if he had to. He supposed being a doctor wasn't all fun and games, and often caused one to have a tendency to snap at their roommate, but this was a bit too overboard. If this was what he was studying for, then he seriously considered changing majors.

And to think he thought 2 months ago that this would gradually die out.

* * *

It all started when Eren told his dad he wanted to major in psychology.

Of course his dad was absolutely elated; it was common knowledge he wanted his son to take over his spot one day as one of the most famed doctors in the country, but was always disappointed in the past when he saw Eren loafing around and getting into fights with other kids in school. He had long since given up Mikasa, as she wished to become a police officer, despite her excellent grades that could have landed her wherever she wanted.

So when his son who he had almost given up on told him that he wanted to follow his dad's footsteps, Dr. Jaeger was more than willing to make arrangements for Eren to do so.

Which was how he ended up enrolling in one of the most prestigious medical schools ever with the help of his father's fame and alumni status: Recon University.

Fearing Eren would get stuck in a dorm with a potential enemy his son would fight with and end up leading to his own downfall, Dr. Jaeger arranged Eren to live with one of his trusted colleague's colleague, another well-known person in the medical field who reluctantly agreed to have Eren has a roommate, not only as a living partner but as a junior that could learn from an accomplished doctor. It was perfect, especially because of this person's reputation for a no-nonsense personality and the repercussions that came with disobeying his orders.

Of course, all of this was done before Eren had time to protest.

* * *

That was the story of how Eren got stuck with living with one of the most hard-ass people he'd ever meet. He could tell his stay was going to be anything but pleasant when he rang the doorbell to his new roommate's apartment in downtown Manhattan on a rainy day, to make sure the person was ready for the big move the next day.

"Hello-"

And cue the first words that would have marked the beginnings of a long journey between the two clashing personalities:

"Leave your shoes by the mat, they're fucking dirty. My name is Rivaille and I swear to God if you track any mud in my place, I will kick your sorry ass, is that clear?"

* * *

**Well it's about time I did my newest OTP some justice. ヘ(^_^ヘ)**


	2. League of Legends

"Rivaille, I need the printer for a project that's due in a week and it's really lon- WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Rivaille threw his headset across the room as he looked up at the startled teen with equally bewildered eyes, the complete opposite from his usual default expression.

"Is that-"

"It's not what you think it is, Eren."

Eren stared at Rivaille in disbelief, then back at the computer screen, where the content juxtaposed whatever excuse Rivaille was about to spout at him.

"Rivaille, I-"

"This isn't just anything little brats like you can handle,"

"But-!"

"Give me the flashdrive, I'll print it out for you."

"I-"

"Go to sleep, it's 11 at night and you have a test tomorrow."

Dismayed, Eren handed over the drive with his project on it and hurriedly left the room, frozen and pondering about what just went on. He figured the only person he could probably rant to at this hour was the one person he really didn't want to bother under normal circumstances, but the screen on Rivaille's computer screamed otherwise. Eren picked up his phone, scrolled through his contacts, and hit 'call'.

The phone was picked up after 3 rings. "It's 11 at night, Eren, what's wron-"

"Armin, you won't believe what I just saw."

Armin, his childhood friend, seemed to be stirring from sleep as he registered what Eren was saying.

"Did something bad happen? Did you get into another fight? Are you hurt?"

"What, no! Why do you always assume the worst about me?"

"Why else would you call me so late into the night? We have a test tomorrow, you know…"

"I know, but listen up. You know my roommate, right?"

"Dr. Rivaille? Yes, why?"

"And you know how much of a hard-ass he is, right?"

"Yes, Eren, you call and text me with complaints about the man 24/7, I think I'd know by now."

"Well, I just walked into the room because I needed to use the printer…"

"Uh huh?"

"And his computer screen…"

"What?" Armin sounded slightly scared.

"Unbelievable. Just…I'm shocked," Eren sighed.

"Well, what was on it? Some kind of top-secret government agency information?"

"No, seriously, you have to stop assuming the worst-"

"Porn?"

"Um, even worse."

Armin let out a whoosh of air. He wondered if he had to call the police on Dr. Rivaille in case Eren was too petrified to do it, because his friend sounded really shaken up.

"What could possibly be worse than that?"

"Armin, I didn't know it was possible until I saw it on the screen."

"Uh-huh…?"

Eren let out a sigh as he lowered his voice to reveal the horrible truth.

"League of Legends."

There was a long silence on the other end.

"…Are you serious?" Armin's voice was laced with ludicrousness.

"No, Armin, you don't understand. He's ranked Platinum 1. PLATINUM 1."

"Yes, and?"

"I'm only Bronze 3…"

"Good night, Eren."

* * *

**The laments of a person who can't even get into a bronze rank haha meanwhile all my friends are in some sort of diamond rank and I'm just here level 11 swag.**

**Headcanon: Rivaille is a total nerd and plays all types of computer games in his spare times. (and kicks eren's ass in every single one of them)**


	3. Fire

Eren heard the door open and footsteps walking in.

"Rivaille, are you back?" he called, not taking his eye off the frying pan he was currently maneuvering.

"Yes, I'm back, and why the fuck are you in the kitchen?" Rivaille replied with a question that sounded more like a stop-what-you're-doing-right-now order than an inquiry.

"I-I figured, since you were working late tonight as well, I'd make something nice…" Eren answered sheepishly. Honestly, it was the truth; this was Rivaille's 5th consecutive night working on some hospital emergency that came up just as Rivaille was about to prop his feet up on the coffee table and watch some TV. Eren thought it was the norm until he noticed dark circles starting to appear on Rivaille's tired eyes.

Rivaille stood at the doorway connecting the living room to the kitchen with his hand tugging at his tie. He looked ready to jump into bed. Suddenly Eren started to regret making dinner; what was he thinking? All Rivaille probably wanted to do was sleep. Food must have been the last thing on his mind. "You can cook?" he asked, disbelieving.

"Um." Eren didn't know what to say. Usually there'd be some form of takeout or leftovers from Rivaille sticky-noted and neatly organized in the fridge but today he wanted to show some effort. However, this was his first time attempting such an ordeal. But how hard could it be, right? It was just chicken and rice…nothing a little Google search couldn't fix. "Yeah."

"Well, I'll believe you. I'm tired, I'll take a shower and finish up some work in my room so call me when you're done." Rivaille sighed, turning to head out the room. He didn't believe Eren, but he supposed it was still better than greasy take-out food he hated getting but had to resort to more often than not. It was a while since he had home cooking anyway.

He could have never expected to have to turn back because of an audible explosion that sounded very much like a mix of fire combustion and Eren's yelp.

"Fuck!"

"Shitty brat, what did you-"

Oh.

Rivaille had never seen such a horrific sight outside of Saturday morning cartoons. He always found the kitchens destroyed in an exaggerated manner due to a complete amateur trying to cook for the first time and failing miserably amusing.

But nothing about his stove currently engulfed in flames and nearby objects starting to melt quickly from the heat was amusing in the least.

Neither was the kid hopping about, confused as to what to do.

Hurriedly crossing the room and determining that the sink was way too close to the fire, Rivaille ripped off his suit jacket and threw it onto the fire, depriving the flames of oxygen and quenching it in a matter of seconds.

Eren stood to the side, eyes wide, shell-shocked. Seconds. That was all it took for Rivaille's pristine stove to be ruined. And it was all his fault. He was certain Rivaille would murder him. Eren wanted a chance to at least write a will before his life ended. He's dedicate half his life savings, or what little he had, to Mikasa, and the other half to Armin. And a big fuck you to Jean at his funeral. He honestly didn't know exactly what went wrong, one minute he was flipping the pan, the next, everything was flying everywhere and falling into the flames and oh God, Rivaille was turning this way and he was sure to be way more irascible than usual possibly with thoughts of homicide-

"Eren," Rivaille's piercing tone ripped Eren from his thoughts.

"Yes?!"Eren yelped, sounding like a dog as he prepared himself for the worst.

Silence.

"…Let's just order Chinese."

"…Good idea."


	4. The Box

"A package for a Mr. Jaegar?" A voice followed promptly after three knocks on the door to Rivaille's apartment. When the knocks didn't work, the man was insistent upon ringing the doorbell like there was no tomorrow.

Rivaille roused from sleep. He'd barely gotten any sleep in general since Eren's stunt with the stove a few days ago and he was now finally getting a break from all the stresses in his life.

But of course that wasn't to stay for long, oh no. Rivaille almost never had 3 consecutive hours of alone time without getting interrupted by something drastic.

Grumbling, Rivaille got off the couch and headed toward the door, unlocking it and opening the threshold to glare at the UPS man.

"Hi, is a Mr Jaegar home?" The delivery man seemed to overlook Rivaille's death-willing stare as he read the name on the medium-sized package.

"No, but I can take it for him," Rivaille replied, taking the box from the man and signing the paper that signified that the recipient had gotten their package.

"Have a nice day!" The man turned and headed off to the elevator, while Rivaille shut the door behind him.

"It was excellent until you came," he murmured as he set the box down and went to fly onto the couch. He immediately buried his face into the leathery seat and sighed deeply.

Then he started to wonder what the brat could have possibly received. Eren was in his classes right now, so it left an empty house and a curious Rivaille in it to wonder just what the kid could have been receiving. Was his birthday nearing? No, it was still two months off. So why would anyone want to send him something?

He tried to suppress these thoughts. It wasn't any of his business what the kid was getting from his friends or peers or whatever. But it wasn't like the box was small; it was a fairly considerable size. And it was pretty heavy too. When Rivaille shook it, he could hear various things clatter.

Was the kid dealing drugs?

That thought disturbed Rivaille greatly. He'd once been a part of that, his naïve, teenage days, but never again; if Eren was doing the same things as he once did he'd beat the shit out of the brat, because that's exactly what he should have gotten back in the day.

But it still wasn't really any of his business.

But then again, Erwin would give him hell if he were to go back on his promise with Grisha, and he was indebted to Grisha after all. And the promise was to keep Eren out of trouble.

So as a necessary precaution, he told himself, he would just take a peek into the box. Just a small peek. Then he'd tape it back as if nothing happened, then he'd be on his way to some nice sleep.

Rivaille couldn't deny the fact that he was slightly worried. Who knows what kids these days found entertaining? For all he knew, Eren could be involved in some serious crime ring, and that wouldn't be good, no, not at all.

The man got off the couch and went to his room, opening his bedside drawer to fumble for a box cutter. He found an old one he hadn't used in a while, because it wasn't like people sent him packages. Which was why he was slightly jealous of Eren for getting one but if it wasn't for good intentions, then…

Rivaille walked apprehensively out, to the living room, in front of the couch where the box rested. Sliding the box cutter open to the blade, he angled it with practiced ease and precision at the point in which the box divided in half, and cut it. A loud ripping noise followed, and the sound of a door opening and shutting came right after.

"I'm home- WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY PACKAGE?"

Rivaille froze. Shit. What time was it? Why was the brat home so early? Did he really lose that much time reminiscing on what to do?

"It was a half day today," Eren crossed the room to the box, looking disgusted. Rivaille stood and moved out of the way, Eren protectively hugging the box to pick it up.

"Are you dealing drugs?" Rivaille asked. Well. Beating around the bush wasn't really his forte.

"What? No!" Eren replied, a little too quickly.

"Let me see the box," Rivaille demanded.

Eren turned slightly so the edge of the box showed. "You see it," he said cautiously.

Rivaille narrowed his eyes. "This is an ORDER, Jaegar," he said in a dangerous tone.

Eren looked miffed. "This is MY package! It's none of your business!"

"It is if you're dealing meth out of my damn house!"

"You've been watching too much Breaking Bad lately!"

"Then let me see what's in the box!"

"No!"

"Give it here, brat,"

"This is my box, not yours!"

At that point Rivaille snapped, trying to take the box away by force.

"Stop it!"

"Then let go!"

Eren didn't have to, because the contents came tumbling out when Rivaille tugged a bit too harshly.

Clear CD cases with scratched CDs in them fell out, clattering to the floor.

Eren snapped. "Those were my baby videos, you jerk!" He scrambled to the floor to pick the contents up, stuffing them back into the box and scrambling back up.

"Then why didn't you-"

"Because they're really embarrassing!" Eren huffed and took the box into his own room.

Rivaille, for once in his life, looked after Eren, stunned and feeling like he totally deserved that one.

* * *

"Hey, Eren, did you get the goods?" a voice asked.

Eren held the phone up to his cheek with his shoulder as he typed his essay for class.

"Jean, I swear to God, next time you send me porn unwarranted like that, I'm going to go all the way to New York just to kick your ass."


	5. Tone Deaf

One thing Rivaille wasn't warned of when Eren moved in was his affinity for music.

He supposed he should have suspected something when Eren started to play music at a huge volume at 12 in the night.

But what surprised Rivaille was that Eren didn't listen to as much pop or what young people listened to these days as he expected from a college student. Eren listened to classical music and opera.

Frankly, Rivaille didn't mind the classics. But once the annoyingly autotuned music of the 21st century came on, he would barge straight into Eren's room to give him a talking to.

One day, Eren decided to question this like the shitty brat he was.

"How come you always come in when pop is playing?" Eren asked, looking up from his laptop at a disheveled Rivaille. Said man narrowed his eyes. Eren swiveled his rolling chair to face Rivaille.

"How come you always feel the need to blast shittyass music at top volume at 12 in the morning?" he retorted.

"I mean, the volume is the same with the classicals and the operas…" Eren remarked. "But I don't see you complaining about that."

"There's a fine line between soothing strings and a sudden influx of unforgiving beats, you know," Rivaille rolled his eyes.

Eren took that into consideration and sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

"Did I wake you up with my music?" he asked.

"Noooo," Rivaille dragged out the o's, which signified sarcasm.

"Well, it's not like I'm doing it to please myself, either," Eren shrugged.

Rivaille raised an eyebrow. Noticing Rivaille's questioning look, Eren sighed.

"Look, I was roped into joining choir by a close friend, okay?" Eren confessed.

Rivaille had to bite his tongue to keep himself from laughing. That would explain the classical as opposed to the crappy pop music.

Eren swiveled back to his desk and put his face in his hands. "It's really embarrassing, but it's not like it's unpleasant; well, the end-of-the-year showcase apparently is, but other than that, it's an easy 100, I hear."

Rivaille coughed. He supposed it made sense. "So…does that mean you sing?"

Eren flushed. "No!"

"The showcase requires singing, doesn't it?" Rivaille cocked his head to the side.

"I-I decided to become a stagehand." Eren looked away.

That offhand response irritated Rivaille. "Don't play dumb with me, Eren, I've been to college and I know well enough there are separate classes for that."

Eren bit his lip. "Times have changed since you went to school-"

"Sing." Rivaille narrowed his eyes.

"Huh?"

"Sing."

"Why should I?"

"Now."

"But!"

"Sing. NOW."

Rivaille's voice was as menacing as it could get. Fuck. That meant Rivaille wasn't joking around. He actually wasn't going to leave until Eren did as he was told. Eren acquiesced and stood up, knowing the only way to get the man out of his room at this point was to do what he told him to do. Looking expectantly at Rivaille, who was in his sweatpants and a white long-sleeved shirt, Eren took a deep breath as Rivaille crossed his arms. Eren's rapid heartbeat reflected his nervousness as he drew shaky breaths. It was bad enough to sing with a bunch of people, because at least then he could ad-lib, but alone in a room with a man whom he respected but probably wasn't going to look at the same way again?

A one, a two-

A few seconds later, Rivaille would find out exactly why Eren was so reluctant to join choir.


	6. Pacific Rim

Eren looked forward to Fridays.

Not just because it was the last day of the week that signified a weekend of either crazy fun or just sleeping in until 3 in the afternoon, but it also meant Friday night takeouts and watching a movie on Netflix with Rivaille, which was probably the only bonding time they would ever share.

However, the last two Fridays it was mostly Rivaille falling asleep two minutes into the movie due to exhaustion from emergency calls from work, which ended up in Eren having to bring Rivaille's blankets out to the couch so the man could sleep peacefully. This week, Rivaille had a fairly normal schedule, no emergencies involved, so he would be alert and active with Eren during the movie.

It was a fun thing they had. It started when Eren was caught using Rivaille's Netflix account a few weeks back, and was probably in for an unrelenting diatribe if it weren't for the fact that Rivaille apparently liked the movie Eren was watching. Which surprised Eren because who knew Rivaille was into Disney Princess movies as well? No wonder they kept popping up on the recommended list.

After that embarrassing confession, the two found that they shared similar tastes in movies in general, except for the fact that while in general, Rivaille preferred action, Eren preferred comedy. But the two managed to find movies around that, like the Hangover series or 21 Jump Street.

It became a regular thing on Friday nights, since it was probably the only time the two had intersecting schedules for free time.

Rivaille's leather couch was absolutely perfect for movies.

The best part about watching movies with Rivaille, though, was that he always had some witty, sassy remark at the right times that made Eren double over in laughter until the man told him to shut the fuck up. His naturally critical personality always managed to bleed into the movies they watched. Eren would secretly relay those remarks without proper credit to his friends, making him seem wittier than he actually was.

It was a silent agreement that Eren would always order the food, and Rivaille would pick the film.

Eren walked into the apartment to find Rivaille sprawled out on the couch and aiming the remote towards the TV, probably contemplating which movie to watch.

"Anything good?" Eren asked.

Rivaille sat up quickly and scooted over to the further end of the couch, making room for Eren. Eren put down the Chinese food and flopped back onto the opposite end.

"The Purge?" Rivaille suggested.

"Nah, the previews looked good but my friends tell me the overall movie sucked." Eren replied, leaning forward to grab at the noodles and chopsticks.

Rivaille turned back to the screen, squinting. "Kick-Ass 2," he said.

Eren shook his head, shoving his mouth with noodles. "I want to save that for after finals, when I inevitably fail."

Rivaille rolled his eyes. Then something caught his attention.

"Pacific Rim," he read.

Eren considered it and nodded, a bright look in his eyes. "Yeah! I heard it was REALLY good. All over Tumblr, too," he said, thinking back to all the fanarts and posts about the movie he saw while scrolling through Tumblr on his phone.

Rivaille clicked on the movie and leaned back, gesturing for Eren to hand him some noodles as well. "Then it's settled," he said as Eren gave him a box of noodles and chopsticks of his own.

The movie started playing, and it was silent for about 10 minutes before Rivaille's critical onslaughts of sarcasm began to take shape.

"Jaeger? Isn't that your last name?" Rivaille asked, staring at the screen. Eren nodded. What a weird coincidence.

A few more minutes in, and all the food was gone.

"I feel like the Asian is gonna die soon," Rivaille commented.

"Why?" Eren asked.

"It's always the girl with the troubled past and all that good shit that dies first," Rivaille responded sagely.

Eren nodded, pretending to know what Rivaille was talking about.

The fortune cookies were still in their wrappers.

"So the alien things aren't evil?" Eren asked, reading his fortune for the regular bullshit that gave hope in certain situations. 'You will find that your lover was right by you this entire time,' it read. Why couldn't it give anything useful for a change? Such as, 'If you don't study your ass off until the finals, you're gonna fail'?

"No, they still are, but the only way to beat the damn things is if you become one of them. Though if that was all it took to figure it out, then I don't see why they couldn't have captured the damn things and connected brains sooner," Rivaille corrected.

One fortune cookie was left.

"Aww, the kaiju is pregnant," Eren cooed.

And then the baby ate Chau.

"What the fuck?!" Rivaille spoke for both of them when he attempted to verbalize the plot twist into words. They really should have seen that coming.

Rivaille reached for the cookie at the same time as Eren, and their hands brushed. Eren backed off immediately.

"God, the way they emphasize them becoming one, it's like some weird, kinky porn video," Rivaille commented. Eren shrugged, he rather liked the chemistry between Mori and Becket but he didn't want to get into it now. He knew Rivaille wasn't a huge fan of romance but the movie, surprisingly, did a good job of evening out the romance and the actual plot.

"They're both going to die, I assure you."

After that, there was surprisingly a lesser amount of words from the older man as the two watched the movie in silence. It was amazing, best movie Eren had seen in a long time. The graphics, the acting, the emotions, they were simply sublime.

That was, until the end.

Rivaille looked upset his theory was incorrect. He threw up his hands into the air.

"So they both survive? Are you kidding me?"

"I think it's cool they both survive," Eren shrugged.

Rivaille rolled his eyes, aiming to off the TV and eyeing the mess before them on the coffee table.

"No, wait, there's a funny post-credits scene," Eren said.

And funny it was, when Chau ripped out of the kaiju's stomach. Even Rivaille had to suppress a chuckle at the "Where's my goddamn shoe?"

"God, this is disgusting. Get the washcloth," Rivaille ordered, shutting the TV off. Eren nodded assent, wandering into the kitchen for a spare one.

"Haha, lucky we don't live in a world where huge, creepy alien things attempt to eat humans, right?" Eren laughed lightheartedly. "I mean, the enemy becoming your greatest asset and humanity's only hope? Having to seal the threshold between humans and monsters with the enemy's help? That's pretty badass."

"Mmhmm. Now shut up and help me clean," Rivaille grumbled, a tone of agreement in his voice.


	7. Crash Course

"Eren, what is this?" Rivaille marched into Eren's room, holding a scrap of paper. The occupant was currently on the bed, lying down and clicking furiously away at his laptop and mouse, headset firmly set on his head. Eren was mindlessly swearing and belting out terrible orders as he tried to organize his team for an attack formation on what seemed to be League of Legends.

"Fucking brat," Rivaille stomped over to the kid and sent a crunching blow to his ribs with a menacing kick. Eren looked startled as he jolted away from Rivaille with wide eyes. Taking off his headset, Eren seemed to get ready to chew Rivaille out when he saw the paper in Rivaille's hand. Eren immediately turned pale.

"Care to explain what a D- is doing on your essay?" Rivaille growled.

"Umm…I'm really not the person to ask." Eren muttered, putting down his headset. Rivaille could vaguely hear the anguished cries of his teammates as Eren went AFK. From the looks of it, the team was bound to lose anyway; it had lousy support and an ADC who didn't know what they were doing. No surprise it was Eren.

Noticing Rivaille looking at the screen with disdain, Eren quickly shut it and sit cross-legged at the edge of his bed. Rivaille followed suit, sitting a few inches away from Eren and handing over the paper to him like it was radioactive material.

"Why are you falling behind on your studies, Eren?" Rivaille demanded after a few seconds of silence.

Eren turned away. "…I don't know."

Rivaille snorted. "I think I know. The answer's right there," he motioned to the laptop.

Eren huffed. "You wouldn't understand. College is really stressful, and I've been playing League to take my mind off it."

Rivaille narrowed his eyes. "You do realize the only reason I'm where I'm at today is because I went to college to earn a degree, right?"

Eren sighed. "I know! But that was what, 50 years ago?"

Rivaille felt a vague sense of irritation at that. He didn't even have wrinkles yet. If anything, he looked way too young for his actual age. He doubted Eren meant it seriously but it still pissed him off.

"Listen, kid, if you don't start getting your grades up, I'm going to have to cut you off from a lot of things, starting with your laptop itself." Rivaille pinched the bridge of his nose. Never in his life did he expect to deal with such a shitty brat like this. He had better things to do, why was he even bothering with such a predicament when he could have been watching the final episodes of Breaking Bad?

"…You're grounding me?" Eren asked in disbelief.

"Not if you get your shit together," Rivaille replied simply, getting up.

"It's just calculus!" Eren scrambled up, following Rivaille out into the hall to the living room. "You can't possibly ground me for that!"

Rivaille sighed. "If it were up to me, trust me kid, I wouldn't care less. But this is your father we're talking about, do you want to let him down?"

Eren shut his mouth at that. His father was indeed putting a lot of hope into Eren, and if he were to let him down…

"Look," Rivaille turned and stared right into Eren's worried eyes. "I'm not going to snitch on you, only if you start getting at least a B-plus in calculus."

Eren bit his lips. It was really hard to rebound from a D to a B-plus. Finals were coming up, but to get at least a B-plus for his final grade he'd have to get an A-plus. But it wasn't like this D would cause the end of his career…on the other hand, though, he'd rather graduate with an A than a B. Apparently the predicament was evident, because Rivaille sighed.

"Which is why I'm going to help you," he said.

Eren looked up. Could he have heard right? "Huh?"

Narrowing his eyes, Rivaille prodded a finger into Eren's chest. "I'm going to help you get an A-plus on your final, but that can only work out if you cooperate. You'd better be ready for sleepless weekends and boot camp, because I'm teaching you from the basics."

Eren gulped.

X

(6 days)

The week before finals were hell.

Rivaille wasn't exaggerating when he said boot camp.

"You got 24 questions wrong out of 50! What the hell! Do it all over again." Rivaille ordered, not even blinking at Eren's shocked look.

"Twenty-fucking-four? That's not even possible," Eren said, burying his face in his hands.

Surprisingly, Rivaille wasn't as violent and irascible as Eren predicted he would be. He was actually kind of…nice? About the whole situation, at least, considering it was Rivaille. If anything, he was lucky Rivaille hadn't smacked him with the heavy textbook that he was carrying, reading off the answers. He looked like he wanted to for a while now.

X

(5 days)

5 days were left until finals and Eren had gotten 3 hours of sleep total.

He had dark circles around his eyes, curse his weak skin. Rivaille seemed like he worked 48 hours in a row without sleep and his eyes were perfectly fine.

"Twenty questions out of fifty, not bad, but not good either," Rivaille commented offhandedly, checking Eren's work.

Eren would have been shocked at the nicer comment if he weren't fighting to stay awake.

X

(4 days)

"What is the limit as x approaches infinity of (1 + (k/x)) to the x?" Rivaille asked randomly as the two took a dinner break.

"Wha-" Eren was caught off guard with a napkin to the face.

"Too slow, next time, you'd better be ready." Rivaille smirked slightly, causing Eren to choke on his pasta. It had been a long time since he saw Rivaille with anything but a scowl or a straight line on his face.X

(3 days)

"Twelve questions out of fifty." Rivaille nodded, eyebrows raised, impressed. "Not bad at all, kid."

Despite his fatigue and pounding headache, Eren brought himself to smile. If he weren't so drowsy, he could have sworn he felt a blush creeping its way through his face.

X

(2 days)

Eren rubbed his face as Rivaille checked his work with an approving look. He was absolutely tired but for some reason he felt good, better than he had in a long time. Maybe the break from League and the focus onto something else entirely had something to do with it. Or maybe it was just Rivaille.

"Hey, Eren, say you have a double integral of a continuous function over a bounded region, and you calculate it by evaluating the integrals one at a time. Whose theorem did you just use?" Rivaille asked nonchalantly.

"Fubini's theorem," Eren yawned, then caught himself as he stared wide-eyed at Rivaille, who looked just as surprised.

"…Good job, brat."

X

(1 day)

Eren came back home ready for the last day of the crash course, only to find Rivaille slumped on the couch.

"Um…Rivaille?" Eren asked.

Rivaille looked up. "What?"

"Aren't we going to study?" Eren looked confused.

Rivaille shook his head and pat the seat next to him. Eren sat down, bewildered.

"You took the shit I threw at you well, kid. I've never seen anyone go through that without some sort of mental breakdown."

Eren felt embarrassed for some reason, and looked away. If criticism from Rivaille made him uncomfortable, then praise from Rivaille was in a whole other category.

"You did good," Rivaille said, reaching over to ruffle Eren's hair. "Good luck on your finals."

Eren could have sworn there was the tiniest hint of a smile on the stoic male's face.

X

(1 week later)

Eren came into the apartment with a dejected look on his face.

Rivaille noticed immediately.

He sighed. "Lay it on me."

Eren slowly pulled out a paper from his bag.

"I got…" His frown unexpectedly turned into a huge smile. "An A!"

Then, Rivaille really did smile, even if it was just for a split second.


	8. Fever

Incessant coughing was what woke Rivaille up at 3 in the morning.

Grumbling, he hopped out of bed and kicked his door open, crossing the narrow hall to the room across from his, Eren's room. Which would have been a personal gym if the brat's dad didn't decide to ship him off to college.

"You piece of shit, some of us are trying to sleep here." Rivaille grumbled, displeased. He cracked the door open slightly to find a human-sized bulge in the blankets, and it looked to be shivering.

Something told Rivaille this wasn't a good situation. And he didn't need his doctor's instinct to figure that out.

"Hey, what's your problem?" Rivaille asked, slightly concerned now that he saw what he probably should have suspected earlier.

Eren's voice came out raspy and gross. "Nothing, I'm fine,"

"You aren't fine, look at you." Rivaille sighed, knowing he wasn't going to get any sleep tonight either. "What did you even do?"

"I don't know, I guess I've been overworking myself."

"Playing League and procrastinating essays is not overworking yourself," Rivaille replied snarkily, though he did have to admit, the kid had survived his boot camp, which was a pretty damn good accomplishment.

"But…I've been trying my best, and…" Eren coughed. Rivaille cringed, he could definitely hear something in there. The brat most certainly was not fine.

"Absolutely disgusting. Flip over," Rivaille commanded. He let years of medical experience kick in as Eren struggled to turn onto his back for Rivaille to examine him.

Rivaille first put the back of his palm to Eren's sweaty (gross) forehead. It was indeed burning hot. Eren was wheezing and practically dying in the bed as he struggled to breathe with whatever clogged his sinuses.

"I'm going to have to get a thermometer to see how sick you really are, Eren," Rivaille said cautiously.

Eren wheezed, and Rivaille took that as a yes.

Walking leisurely to the bathroom to get the thermometer, Rivaille pondered upon just how Eren could have caught a cold. Rivaille worked for days on end and he never felt so much as a sore throat in all his years. Surely it wasn't the whole boot camp thing that bit Eren in the ass.

But then again, Eren wasn't as fit as Rivaille. What were fit college students now, even?

A minute later, Rivaille had located the thermometer and stuck the thing inside Eren's mouth quite haphazardly, as the kid gagged for a second before going back into a sickly state of silence.

"100.4," Rivaille read off the thermometer once it beeped. "You're hot."

Eren managed a weak smile. "Thanks."

Rivaille rolled his eyes. "You realize if you weren't sick at the moment, you'd be on the floor?"

Eren coughed, much to the dismay of Rivaille. "I guess,"

Sighing, the older man got up.

"I'm gonna go get you water and shit," he said. "To keep you under check." As he turned, though, hand shot out and grabbed whatever article of Rivaille it could, which, in this case, was the back of his shirt.

"Don't go," Eren pleaded.

"Huh?" Rivaille's first instinct was to force Eren's hand off, but he decided against being so rough with a sick person.

"Don't," Cough. Cough. "Don't leave me," Eren tried, blushing (or maybe it was just the fever heating up his face) in the process.

"You need to drink, Eren." Rivaille deadpanned.

"No," Eren protested. Well, as raspy and sick as protesting can get.

Rivaille tried his best not to lose his patience with such sick people. God knows how he even kept his patience with some of the people he had to diagnose and treat at work. Maybe it was because it was Eren he was dealing with, he got irked more easily. He wasn't some total asshole who got pissed at random strangers, after all. Most of the time, at least.

"What do you want, then?" Rivaille asked, exasperated. He turned to see a bloodshot Eren looking at him with weary eyes and felt guilty about even losing a bit of his patience with the kid, who looked like he'd been to hell and back.

"You," Eren replied after another round of coughing. "I want you."

"Huh." Rivaille's question came out to be more like a statement, the way he said it.

"You," Eren said. With that, he gave a sharp tug so Rivaille fell back onto the bed, somehow landing directly next to Eren.

"What the fuck-" There was no use in protesting. No point either, because the kid was pretty much knocked out immediately. The strength it took to tug Rivaille back must have been all that was left of him. But with his fucking limbs immediately tangling around Rivaille's body like some sort of fucking jellyfish? Really?

Rivaille fought the urge to squirm out of Eren's grip. He could literally feel the germs spreading their way to him. He wasn't in a comfortable position, either. For all he knew, he could have just busted out of there with force, but-

Well. The kid was sick.

And at least they weren't face-to-face.

More like they were spooning, but the kid was sick, in the end.

At least that was what he would tell himself from now on to justify him actually spending the night on the same bed with the sickly college student.


	9. Side Story: College

"So, Eren, how is it like, living with Dr. Rivaille?"

Eren looked to his left, where Sasha was looking inquiringly up at him. Next to her were a line of other students waiting to get lunch in the college cafeteria, looking impatient as Eren and Sasha stopped to converse.

He slid his tray down to the vegetables, wary of the murderously hungry college students.

"I mean, it's not any different than living at home with your parents," Eren replied. Living with the other man for a few months now, he really didn't know what to say. At first, Rivaille indeed seemed like the unapproachable god everyone else thought he was, but in reality, he was a shorter-than-average man with a short temper and OCD. It was like living with him opened a whole new side for Eren to see.

And then he just had to go and fuck it up with the fever incident.

For a few days now, the two seemed to be avoiding each other, eating meals at separate times and making minimal contact. The morning Eren woke up with Rivaille in his arms was the moment he knew everything was going to go to shit.

"Really? I always imagined he'd be godlike; I've never seen him in real life before, but I hear he's really handsome and responsible and basically a perfect human being," Connie piped up from next to Sasha, who nodded in agreement.

Eren shrugged and headed to the cash register. Perfect human being? Maybe not so much, but really handsome…that was for sure. Sasha and Connie followed suit. "I thought that too, but that can only last so long after living with him for so long, you know?"

"Next," the cash register lady called, prompting Eren to dig through his pockets for money and handing it over to her. The woman looked uninterested as she counted his change and gave it to Eren.

He briskly walked over to his usual table, a huge, circular table smack in the middle of the other tables, where friends sat. Christa greeted him, sandwiched between Reiner and Ymir but angelic as always. The rest of the people didn't seem to even care. Next to Reiner were Bertholdt and Annie, polar opposites of each other in terms of personality and physical appearance. Next to Ymir was Marco, who seemed to be laughing at a joke Bertholdt was telling. Sasha and Connie trailed behind Eren.

"Aw man, here come the extras," Ymir grumbled as she moved closer to Christa. "Guess I'll have to move my shit." But everyone knew that was a blatant excuse to sit closer to the petite blonde who literally had no idea she was being hit on by Reiner and Ymir.

Eren, Sasha, and Connie squeezed in between Marco and Ymir.

"What took you guys so long?" Christa asked.

"We were asking Eren about Dr. Rivaille," Sasha replied, shoving bread into her mouth and savoring the taste of it quite predictably. Eren choked.

"The smoking hot, mysterious doctor that's supposedly a genius and living with Eren?" Ymir leaned on her elbow and smirked. "Do tell."

Eren sputtered. Hot? That was probably the last word he'd use to describe Rivaille. Not that he wasn't good-looking, but hot was a pretty strong term to describe someone…

"Have your cycles synched yet?" Reiner teased, causing a roar of laughter to go around the table. Eren blushed with embarrassment, but found himself lacking words to spit back.

"It's okay, Eren, ignore them." Christa tried to console the poor boy by offering him a biscuit. Just as Eren was about to take it, though, Ymir intervened and shoved it into her mouth, earning a sharp headbutt from Christa.

"Hey, Eren, when you get sick, does he take care of you like you're a ba~by?" Ymir added fire to the fuel, causing another round of raucous laughter to go around, and Eren to blush harder because that was exactly what happened a few days ago. A few people sitting near them left in disgust and irritation. Noticing this, Bertholdt gave the table a look that shut them up for about 10 more seconds.

"I heard he once was a thug," Naturally, Connie broke the silence, causing Sasha to gasp, and everyone else roll their eyes.

"Don't be silly, why would a thug be the successful man Dr. Rivaille is today?" Reiner laughed.

Annie shook her head. "I heard that too. That he was a notorious black-market agent who knew no boundaries and committed every type of crime possible."

The table fell silent at that, do the displeasure of Connie. "So when she says it, it's plausible?" his questions fell on deaf ears.

"Hey, Eren, is it true?" Bertholdt asked. The table's nature suddenly dropped from annoyingly pleasant to cold, uneasy trepidation. Not because they cared much about Eren's well-being, but rather, they didn't want to be the next targets of a potential thug.

Eren coughed. "What? No! I mean. I don't know." He frowned. "I don't think so."

"You've never seen him with some white powder in a Ziploc bag, weapons, anything?" Ymir asked.

"Absolutely not. Rivaille- I mean, Dr. Rivaille isn't that kind of person." Eren replied indignantly.

"But if it's Annie who heard this…" Even Christa seemed unsure.

"Yeah, Annie is pretty reliable." Marco agreed. Annie herself just looked down at her plate.

"You should go through his shit, Eren, check if he has any guns, germs, or steel," Ymir suggested with snarky sarcasm in her voice.

Eren felt anger and protectiveness flare up in his chest and didn't exactly know why. His eyebrows furrowed with irritation. "You guys barely know him, so you can't just assume things like that!" His voice was laced with enough peevishness to cause the table to fall silent once again.

Then Marco smiled. "I think someone's attached to his roommate~" he teased, nudging Eren with his elbow.

"Huh?"

Knowing smiles went around the table.

"You're fucking him, aren't you?" Ymir snickered.

Once again, Eren was baffled by his friends' abilities to come up with such ridiculous conclusions based on a couple of words from him. Just two days ago, Ymir found his prank porn collection from Jean and had managed to spread it around to half the campus, causing looks of awe and fear to be directed towards Eren from students that didn't know the truth. Last week he said he tried a cigarette once and Christa and Sasha immediately jumped on him, accusing him of being a druggie. The week before that he fessed up to having tried beer once and was almost put into rehab, courtesy of Reiner.

"How do you guys even manage to get that from this?" Eren wailed, exasperated. He was done. Absolutely done with his friends. He put his head in his arms and hunched over the table. Marco gave him a consoling pat.

Reiner and Bertholdt exchanged knowing glances, much to the chagrin of Annie.

"It's perfectly normal to have feelings for your roomie, Eren," Bertholdt offered enthusiastically.

'You would know,' thought Eren as he thought back to the time Annie caught Reiner and Bertholdt cuddling in the same bed after a frat party gone wild. She put it up on Facebook with the caption "I never want to triple dorm again with people again. 80 bucks if you want this down", and it got at least 70 likes before the two victims paid her to take it off the Internet.

But did he like Rivaille? Romantically? Eren didn't know. He certainly did feel something after the day he fell sick and Rivaille skipped work just to take care of him. But was it necessarily love? And it wasn't like Rivaille was hideous. Rivaille was very good-looking for a male. Short, but pretty damn fine. And if Eren got through all his impassive quirks, Rivaille was a pretty nice person overall. Unpleasant, yes. Clean freak, yes. Not willing to deal with much shit? Absolutely. But impossible to deal with? No.

And the topic of a few days ago still kept coming back to him.

Christa smiled, eager to offer advice to her poor friend. "Eren, it's fine if you have feelings for him. You've lived with him for a long time now, haven't you? It's a perfectly normal thing to feel if you've been together with someone in the same space for a long period of time. It may be confusing now, but you'll come to terms with what you feel for your roommate, be what it may be; it might not end up being love, or it might, that's completely up to you. But I support you on whatever decision you make, and I'm sure everyone else here does, as well."

Eren looked up, and he could have sworn Christa was radiating some sort of godlike light.

The rest of the males at the table became mush as well, much to the annoyance of Ymir.

"This is getting boring. Let's get out of here, Christa," Ymir complained, getting up to throw her lunch out. Christa followed suit, and the table slowly disintegrated to class, leaving Eren alone and pondering about his newfound predicament.


	10. Squad Rivaille

For a week or so, Rivaille and Eren kept conversation at a bare minimum.

Ever since the awkward morning after Eren's fever broke, and the talk his college friends gave him, Eren felt himself slowly distancing himself from Rivaille unconsciously, even though he didn't want to. He knew all too well that something like this should be talked out with words, not avoidance. And then there was the whole thug thing to think about.

Eren dragged his feet as he walked home in the cooler weather. When had it become so cold? It seemed like just yesterday, it was hot, sticky, humid, and he was moving boxes into Rivaille's guest room.

It seemed every train of thought in Eren's mind led him straight to Rivaille once again.

But he really didn't want to go home today, as it was Friday and they were most likely not going to watch a movie, not today, oh no. He almost wished he took up Connie's offer to go play the new Grand Theft Auto game that came out a couple days ago but Eren wasn't really all that interested in the concept of "Fuck bitches, get money", as Ymir put it. He figured since everyone from their lunch group was going, what was one less person?

If he had thought ahead to the inevitable awkwardness of the situation, however, he would have reconsidered.

Sighing, Eren reached into his pocket for his keys. He'd dragged himself all the way from school to home, and he really didn't want to face the heavy atmosphere in the house-

At least, that's all he got up to as the door swung open before he could turn the knob, revealing a seemingly ecstatic woman with glasses smiling back at him.

"I thought you looked familiar! Hi! Are you Eren?" The woman asked, scrutinizing Eren from head to toe.

Eren was quite shocked as she mussed his hair, examined his torso, and pat his cheeks, like he was some sort of test subject. Who was this woman and what the hell was she doing in Rivaille's house?

"Miss Hanji, I think you're scaring the boy…" Another pleasant, feminine voice popped up as a orange-blonde-ish-haired woman poked up from behind the creepy lady, with an apologetic smile on her face.

Hold up.

Why were there two women…

In Rivaille's house…?

"P-Prostitutes?" Eren blurted out, much to the visible chagrin of the smaller woman behind Hanji, and the amusement of Hanji herself. He never knew when to keep his mouth shut.

"Do you honestly expect me to go so low as to invite whores into my own house?" Rivaille's voice prodded Eren as he emerged from the elevator with groceries. Eren whipped around on instinct at Rivaille's harsh tone, but quickly turned back to Hanji and the other woman, blushing slightly. He didn't realize Rivaille wasn't even home. Hanji laughed loudly.

"Oh man, Rivaille, you weren't kidding about his imagination running wild! I remember when I was that age…" she chuckled, moving out of the way so Rivaille could push himself between Eren and Hanji to set down the groceries.

"It really makes no difference, whatever age you're at you'll still be fucking crazy," Rivaille sighed, pulling off his gloves and scarf.

"It's not crazy! It's called genius with a sense of curiosity," Hanji babbled as she followed an annoyed Rivaille into the house. The shorter woman looked up at Eren and smiled.

"Hi! I'm Petra Ral," she said, holding out her hand for Eren to shake. Eren absentmindedly took her hand as she motioned for him to come in so she could close the door.

"Uh, yeah, hi," Eren really didn't know how to reply. Who were these woman and why were they in Rivaille's house?

Was Rivaille a Mormon?

"I suppose you're wondering who I am?" Petra laughed lightheartedly. Eren nodded, still recovering from the shock at the sudden encounter. "Sorry, I should have introduced myself better. I'm one of the doctors on Rivaille's team, and Ms. Hanji, the…rambunctious woman just now, she's my superior, and the best forensic pathologist in the entire hospital. More for her skills than her personality, which may be hard to believe, haha!"

Eren felt himself sigh in relief. But relief of what? That Rivaille may have had a thing with one of these women? Now that it had all been cleared up, he felt genuinely stupid.

"And you're Eren, right? Nice to finally meet you! Rivaille talks about you a lot," she commented.

"Ah, thanks. You too…" Eren really wasn't one for a solid conversation with strangers. Even his dad straight-up told him at one point in his childhood that that quality combined with his short temper was why Eren didn't have many friends.

"Hurry up, Petra, the hot chocolate is getting cold," A male voice called from the living room. Eren looked over Petra's shoulder to see the couch filled with four men, three of whom were fixated on the TV. How had he not noticed the four men sitting on the couch the entire time? Probably because of Hanji. Well, at least Eren wasn't stuck between two women and Rivaille.

"Oh right, there's a pretty big company in Mr. Rivaille's house today, not just Ms. Hanji and I. Come on, they want to meet you, too!"

Eren followed Petra into the living room, where he was met with one judgmental glare from the person who called to Petra, and curious glances from the other three.

"That's Auruo Bossard," Petra said, pointing to the judgmental one still glaring at Eren. "He's a bit of an idiot but we have to deal with him anyway, since Mr. Rivaille apparently sees something in him that we don't."

"Hey," Auruo grumbled, turning his attention back to the TV. Eren noticed Auruo's features resembled Rivaille's in many aspects, down to the haircut and the scowling features, and he wondered just how much respect Auruo had for the man.

"These two are Gunther and Erd," Petra continued, motioning to the dark-haired man with a thick brow ridge and the blonde man rocking a pretty nice goatee. He reminded Eren of a clean-shaven Shaggy from Scooby-Doo. The two seemed friendlier than Auruo. "They're my fellow partners under Mr. Rivaille, and they're really nice. Way nicer than Auruo," Petra said his name with a look of disgust.

"And I'm Erwin," The tall, well-built man next to Erd smiled. He was very nice-looking, and Eren wouldn't have been surprised if he was a part-time model, because the man looked like he was coming straight out of a professional photoshoot. "I'm Rivaille's boss and manager. He's told us a lot about you."

Eren found himself blushing again. What exactly had Rivaille told his team? He never mentioned a word about them to Eren…

"Now that we're done with the introductions, can we start the fucking briefing on our work?" Rivaille came into the living room, followed by Hanji, who had a tray of snacks in her hand.

Looking pointedly at Eren, Rivaille frowned. It was probably the only eye contact they'd had in several days. "You should go in while we talk. This is shit for adults, not for brats like you."

Auruo made a noise of agreement.

Eren was about to gladly agree, when Hanji intervened.

"Oh why not? Just let him stay! Part of the reason why we came was to see him, after all."

Eren sputtered. "I, uh-"

Rivaille glared at Hanji. "The kid's busy,"

"Actually," Eren blurted. "Not really."

Damn it. Why did he have to let his stupid mouth run again?

Hanji made a noise of triumph. "See?" Rivaille stayed silent as he walked over near Erwin to sit down on the floor in front of the coffee table. Hanji followed suit, and Petra and Eren sat down on their end of the coffee table near Auruo.

The next two hours or so were a series of briefings and results from patients that week, and Eren found himself actually interested in the conversation. Mainly Erwin spoke, commending the team on some jobs but brutally criticizing in other aspects. His harsh tone when he criticized the team shocked Eren, as he could not believe such cruel, castigating words coming out of the mouth of someone who seemed so gentle, but by the looks of everyone else, this was pretty much a regular occurrence.

Hanji and Rivaille interjected sometimes, defending their positions, but accepting Erwin's comments nonetheless. Rivaille's team was taking notes with serious expressions, and Eren felt like he should have done the same. He honestly did not expect hospital work to be so detailed and demanding, if Rivaille's sudden leaves to emergencies weren't enough to signify that. Between sips of hot chocolate, Eren found himself awkwardly asking questions, to which Erwin gladly replied with a kind tone, a sharp contrast from his reprimanding one.

"Eren, Rivaille tells us you're in med school?" Erd asked after a bout of silence as the team took notes on the current subject.

"Ah, yes, I am." Eren replied, caught off-guard.

"Man, remember those days?" Gunther laughed, elbowing Erd in good nature.

"All I did was procrastinate and get fat off college pizza," Erd joked.

"It was so stressful! I failed my first semester because I slacked off," Petra sighed.

"You're lucky you have Mr. Rivaille to supervise you," Auruo rolled his eyes, making his disdain for Eren obvious. "Not that a brat like you deserves it anyway."

Even the way he talked reminded Eren of someone who was trying so hard to be like Rivaille, and Eren felt some jealousy in Auruo's words.

"Yeah, you don't seem that flabby for a college student, med, no less." Hanji smiled, leaning forward to stare at Eren's body some more. Good thing Eren had a sweater and loose jeans on. He would have been mortified if it were a few months ago, when the weather was sticky and he wore less clothes.

"Sorry, years of autopsies has made this one into a crazier bitch than she already was," Rivaille sipped his hot chocolate as his eyes scanned the papers in front of him.

Hanji didn't seem to care. "Man, I'd love to examine your body sometime!" she looked at Eren with googly eyes, effectively creeping him out.

"You're scaring him, Hanji," Erwin said cautiously.

"No, I'm not! Am I, Eren?" Hanji whipped her head to Eren, who couldn't bring himself to say yes.

"Well, kid, you don't have to answer," Rivaille said. "Because it's already 6:30 and I'm kicking all of you out."

His team looked relieved, but Hanji looked dejected.

"Next time, then okay?" she pleaded as she stood up. Erwin followed suit, and all of them put on their jackets and scarves but Rivaille and Eren.

Rivaille ushered all of them to the door, but Petra trailed behind. She grabbed at Eren's sleeve to get his attention before putting on her shoes, keeping her voice low.

"Please take care of Rivaille. He's not who everyone expects him to be; I mean, even I didn't expect such an esteemed doctor to be so cranky and…short," Petra chuckled. "But I can tell, he's really fond of you. And he talks about you a lot. So please, deal with him for all of us? We all respect him greatly, and it's rare to see him liking someone so much."

Eren stammered. "B-but I,"

"Come on, Petra, I'll walk you to your car," Rivaille called, checking his watch.

Petra jolted, hurrying to the door with her shoes half-on.

"I'll see you soon, Eren!" Petra smiled as she walked out with Rivaille, who shut the door behind him, leaving Eren pondering once more about the situation he was put into.

Rivaille was fond of him

Rivaille liked him.


	11. Mixed-up Papers

It had been a week after Rivaille's coworkers came over, and Eren was more at a stalemate than ever.

All day, even during class, Petra's words repeated in his head: "Rivaille likes you a lot."

He liked him, and Eren was pretty sure now that what he felt for Rivaille was definitely more than a simple domestic partnership.

With these new feelings in hand, Eren was pretty sure he couldn't concentrate ever again. Every spacious moment he spent was about Rivaille, and he didn't even know if this was an actual thing or not.

Of course, it was even worse when Rivaille decided to show up at the college to ultimately give Eren the most embarrassing moment of his life.

X

"So then I was like, oh my god, no, Sasha, you're supposed to fuck the prostitute, not help her off the streets!"

The table was at their usual level of noise, discussing the rather terrible details of the adventures with the new Grand Theft Auto game Eren missed out on last week. He was pretty good-natured about it, though. Well, distracted was more like it. While Ymir was making fun of Connie and Sasha for not "getting on her level when it came to video games", Eren was pondering about his predicament with Rivaille.

Annie took notice of Eren's distraction, and gently nudged him. "You okay?"

Eren snapped out of his trance and looked at the shorter blonde, who looked at him with a funny expression. "I'm fine," he responded.

Bertholdt, next to Annie as usual, picked up the awkwardness surrounding Eren. "What's up, Eren? You've been quiet since the conversation started."

Reiner leaned over. "Is it 'cause you ditched us to be with Rivaille? I understand."

Eren rolled his eyes. That was hardly the problem now. Well, it was still the problem, but on a larger scale, he supposed. He chose to stay silent, however, as whatever he said was always used against him in the harshest ways possible. It wasn't just him with the crazy imagination; they didn't exaggerate when they said college students always had some type of screw loose.

Although, silence was interpreted in a far-fetched way, as well.

"So does that mean something happened?" Bertholdt asked, actually in disbelief. "Because, you know, for the most part, we were joking about you and him being a thing…"

"I-"

"Oh, shit, this is actual fucking gold!" Ymir cackled, leaning back on her chair. "Are you freaking serious? So you do like him? It's not just a fling, it's for real? Someone vine this moment, please."

At that note, Christa obediently pulled out her phone, wilting away when Eren gave her a disappointed glance.

Marco looked quite surprised, even more so than the rest of the table, who put aside their Grand Theft Auto in favor of Eren. "Really, Eren?"

Eren shrugged. He really didn't know himself, but he couldn't bring himself to be annoyed. Feelings of confusion occupied too much space already.

Connie raised an eyebrow. "But isn't he like…twice your age?" Sasha stepped on his foot under the table. "Ow!"

Ymir scoffed. "I saw this coming 3 fucking weeks ago. And with that, pay up, Reiner, Bertholdt." The pair discouragingly coughed up 20 dollars each, much to Ymir's pleasure and Eren's chagrin. They were betting on his love life for 3 weeks? He did have to admit, though, that took a lot of gambling on Ymir's part, so he had to give her credit for that.

"Language, Ymir," Christa reminded. The girl addressed rolled her eyes. Sasha giggled.

Reiner put away his wallet and looked pointedly at Eren, almost accusingly. Probably mad about the loss of twenty dollars. "You didn't even think to tell us this? Your buddies? Your friends?" For a moment there, he seemed like a hurt older brother offended that his younger sibling was hiding things from him. Eren almost felt guilty, but swallowed it away.

"Not everything is about Rivaille. Sorry, but my world doesn't revolve around him." Eren sighed finally, masking his true feelings under a superficial lie. Even he could hear how fake that sounded.

The table went silent.

Eren looked up. "What?" Surely it wasn't that big of a deal.

"So it's like that, huh brat?"

Eren whipped his head around.

"Uh."

There stood Rivaille, behind Eren with his trademark glare on his face, not quite towering over Eren but looming over him, in quite the menacing position. He had his doctor's uniform on, white coat and blue shirt and pants underneath, holding a stack of papers out to Eren. Even with his professional clothing on, Rivaille didn't look any less than perfect.

Eren unconsciously blushed.

How much of the conversation had Rivaille heard?

"Sorry to crash your little teenage discussion," Rivaille looked pointedly at Ymir, who looked defiant but seemed to keep herself in check in the presence of the higher-up. The rest of the table was as silent as a dead animal as Rivaille gave them a quick, disapproving scan. "But your little friend here accidentally took my fucking patient forms and left me this pile of crap he calls an essay."

Eren's eyes shot wide open as he dug through his bag to find that he had indeed taken some of Rivaille's patient forms to school.

"Oh man," Eren muttered, absolutely disoriented.

Rivaille tapped his foot impatiently as Eren pulled out the papers one by one. "What are you doing here? How did you get in?" Eren asked.

"I have my ways, and this is my break. I'm not too happy spending half of it looking for my fucking papers in the midst of sweaty teenagers, either." Rivaille snatched the papers out of Eren's hand, replacing them with Eren's essay. They were filled with red marks. Eren looked up in question. How was he supposed to hand something so unpresentable in? His English professor was a total bitch for neatness.

"I corrected all your grammatical errors, by the way. Saves the teacher some trouble. If you still have time during lunch, you might as well take your file out onto a computer and start editing."

Eren nodded tersely. Rivaille rolled his eyes.

"I'm working in late today, so don't bother waiting up for me, though I'm sure you will anyway, playing League or whatever." With that, Rivaille turned and started walking away.

"Thanks," Eren called to the shorter man, who continued walking briskly as if he didn't hear Eren.

As soon as Rivaille was out of sight, the table exploded in shocked admiration.

"So that's the famous Doctor Rivaille!" Christa exclaimed, looking like she just encountered a celebrity, which was pretty much the situation.

"He's so fucking short in person," Ymir sneered. "I wonder if he's even taller than Christa?"

"Don't be sour because he put you in your place, Ymir," Reiner chastised. Ymir held up her middle finger for the world to see.

"Damn, he's intimidating," Bertholdt seemed to be sweating nervously. Marco nodded in agreement, biting his nail.

"I thought I was gonna piss my pants," Connie admitted.

"His eyes had no souuul," Sasha cried quietly, in fear of Rivaille coming back and catching her say something so obscene.

Annie said nothing, but even her usual bored expression went from dull to slightly empowered.

"I guess they don't call him humanity's greatest hope for nothing," Reiner said, leaning back in his chair. He went stiff during Rivaille's short visit. "The man looks like he's seen a lot of shit."

"I approve, Eren!" Reiner reached over and clapped Eren on the back.

"What?!" Eren groaned. He was the only person still normal (except for the fact that his heart was beating 3000 times per second) after the intimidating presence of Rivaille, most likely due to the fact that he dealt with it every single day.

Christa smiled. "I think I saw some definite chemistry between you two."

Ymir shrugged. "Not a huge fan of romance, but you two definitely had something going on, namsaying?"

Sasha and Connie gave each other a knowing look. Marco smiled good-naturedly. "I understand why you like him, Eren. He's not that bad looking!" he put in for good measure.

"You weren't scared of him, either," Annie pointed out.

"That's just because we see each other…every day…" Eren trailed off at everyone's playful looks. They obviously "shipped" (as Sasha put it a few days ago) him and Rivaille, and there was nothing he could do about it. They read him like an open fucking book. There was no use in hiding it or questioning his feelings anymore.

It was official.

Rivaille liked him.

Eren returned those feelings.

"I-I'm fixing my essay!" Eren announced hurriedly, blushing and standing up from his seat. The others cheered him on, obviously thinking he was going to chase after Rivaille or something.

But he wasn't.

He needed a better approach.


	12. Confessions

"That will be $38.50," The friendly girl with two black pigtails at the cash register brought Eren back to reality.

He wasn't doing this.

He wasn't seriously doing this, right?

Why was he here?

At Barnes and Nobles?

Paying who seemed to be one of his college buddies $38.50 to buy three books that instructed how to ask your significant other out?

What was he thinking?

…He blamed it on Jean.

The girl, "Mina Carolina" her tag read, looked at Eren with a degree of pity in her eyes as she took the money from Eren and handed him his change. He was too busy trying to think of a legit excuse for these books to even wonder if he was in her English class or World History class.

She put in the books nicely in the bag, something her co-worker, Thomas, never did.

"Good luck," she said in a genuine tone as she handed the bag to Eren.

"Thanks," Eren managed to choke out. His heart seemed to be racing at about seventy miles per hour, and he was pretty damn sure his blushing face represented that exact emotion.

Eren almost wished he was a bit more…promiscuous, for lack of a better word, in high school. Being the social-obsessed loser he was, Eren never really had the chance to ask girls out. All through high school he was so obsessed with building up his own social life to even notice girls. And the rare instance that he did, he always got homewrecked by some other douchebag (like Jean) who girls went for back then (like Jean). Actually, it was still the same except now, the circumstances were totally different.

This time it was with a man.

* * *

That night, Eren studied like there was no tomorrow.

"I haven't seen you studying this hard since the boot camp," Rivaille's voice jerked Eren out of his study stupor. He quickly covered up his notes in the most natural way he thought was possible: slumping on top of them.

"Ha, well, yeah…important finals, and you know, that shit," Eren replied.

Rivaille walked closer. "What's the topic?"

"Humanities," Eren answered too quickly. There was a pause and Eren was actually scared Rivaille might come close enough to see the words on the page-

"Never was my strong suit," Rivaille shrugged and walked back out of Eren's room. Said male sighed loudly. That was a close call.

* * *

It was only halfway through the pile that Eren realized this was complete bullshit.

Who the actual fuck would rent out a fucking boat in this time and day just to propose a relationship that probably won't even last?

And who in their right mind even writes these kinds of books for a living?

It reminded Eren of those stupid Korean dramas Mikasa enjoyed watching when they were young.

If only he could put this much effort into his actual studies, he'd be passing college decently.

* * *

Eren watched a few episodes of a Korean drama Mikasa recommended to him not so long ago over facebook and realized it was all futile because he doubted Rivaille was a girl who can see ghosts and Eren definitely was not the CEO of a huge company that stretched across the small peninsula.

* * *

Nickelodeon was even worse.

* * *

And If Nickelodeon wasn't the worst of them all, National Geographic sure was rock bottom.

* * *

Eren picked up his phone, dialed the number, and braced himself for impact.

"Eren, it's 12 in the morning. What do you want?"

His normally cheery childhood friend sounded like an axe murderer as Eren chose his last resort: advice from Armin, who sounded as though he was asleep when Eren called. Which was probably the case.

"Hey, Armin, I know it's late and all, but I need your advice on something."

"What could you possibly need at 12 in the morning?"

"Umm, well. You see. Funny story, really! I…IkindawanttoaskRivailleoutbutIdon'tknowhowtosoca nyouhelpme-"

"Whoa, slow down, I can barely understand you. You want to ask someone out?"

Eren swallowed.

"Yeah."

"And is it so significant that you had to wake me up in the middle of the night to ask ME, of all people, for some stupid advice?"

"…Yeah."

"For some stupid LOVE advice that you know I'm probably going to never give because I've never been in love?"

"…Mmhmm."

Armin sighed very audibly.

"You're lucky I'm so nice, Eren."

"You're the best, buddy. So the problem is….I…kind of want to…uhh…ask Rivaille…"

"You want to WHAT?" Armin's voice came out shrill and judgmental, and Eren winced.

"I want to ask Rivaille out but I don't know how to, okay?"

Armin sighed. "And you're calling me about this, why?"

"Because you're smart?"

"Book smart! Eren, you know that I don't know anything about relationships. Or with guys, for that matter!"

"But I really like him, Armin, and I don't know what to do!"

"So why are you yelling at me? Go ask your friends what to do!"

Eren was kind of getting hungry. He stood up to walk out and get a late-night snack.

"Isn't the most generic way just to ask them out?" Armin asked after a short pause.

"I don't know. I've never done it before." Eren replied, rummaging through the fridge.

"I did, once. I got rejected."

"Oh yeah, I remember that girl! Didn't she have to repeat 7th grade?"

"Yeah, but that's not the point."

"Hmm, true. This is my problem, not yours."

"Eren, are you even sure you like him or is it just your time of the month?"

Eren sputtered. "I know for a fact that I like him very much!" he said, still looking for something in the fridge.

"I mean, maybe it's just because you've been living with each other and he's not half bad-looking."

"First of all, excuse you, he's very good-looking. And I know we've lived together for a few months now. But I think he's just so cool and beneath his harsh face there's probably a huge soft spot kind of like a teddy bear and he has the nicest colleagues ever though one of them creeps me out and one of them is basically a model, and he smells so nice, did I ever tell you that?"

"Uh…no, but go on."

"I love how neat he is despite him making it a living hell for me, because the house always smells so clean. We basically go on a movie date every Friday but in his house. He helped me pass one of my classes, and you know how hard of a job that is for anyone. He corrects my papers. He's platinum rank on League. I just…really think his hair is cool. His eyes are so pretty. His body is just so toned and fit for a doctor. He's so good at what he does. And he's such an awesome person and sometimes I wonder why I'm even here with someone who's basically like God-"

Eren closed the fridge door carefully to avoid noise. He stood there blankly, rethinking what he just said and patting himself mentally, because it wasn't that bad of a confession. He was proud of himself!

"And, yeah, that's basically it." He finished.

Eren turned with his winnings, a bowl of spaghetti that Petra gave Rivaille because she made too much. He felt like a load had been lifted off his chest, and maybe everything would be okay and he'd be able to confess in a year or two! He should have made Armin record that so he could memorize it and maybe one day tell it all to the person he liked face-to-face. Everything looked sunny and bright!

But wouldn't luck just have it?

Rivaille was standing right there.

* * *

**this chapter was extremely late, i'm really sorry my dear readers! but please look forward to the next chapter!**


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